


Cultural Exchange

by Merfilly



Category: DCU - Comicverse, Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: M/M, Mutually Unrequited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-14
Updated: 2013-05-14
Packaged: 2017-12-11 19:50:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/802547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim shows up on Monday to a Cultural Exchange Student who is way too familiar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cultural Exchange

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jet/gifts).



Tim looked up as someone fell in step with him, a boy in jeans and a tee shirt… that looked way too familiar.

"What…"

The boy grinned, and Tim found himself cutting off his protest. "Cultural exchange student," the boy told him. "Conner Kent… Smallville. Sent here to see how the city students do it."

"Tim Drake," Tim answered that, smelling a rat with Bat ears and a cowl. Just because he hadn't made it to a Young Justice meeting in nearly a month was no reason to interfere in his social life.

"Cool. Show me around?" The challenge in Conner's voice was too much to ignore.

"Guess I can… wouldn't want you to get in trouble, after all."

Conner laughed. "Trouble? Me?"

Tim just knew this was going to bite him in the butt somehow.

* * *

Normally, Tim saw school as something to just get through, but today was different. Conner was playing up the hayseed act as good as Clark Kent ever did, and the girls were eating it up. It was actually amusing to Tim to watch it… but frustrating too. One more reminder that the relationship between them was 'just friends' was not what Tim wanted, but he was practical enough to shove it down. He had time with his best friend, no rogues, no masks… and he meant to use it the best he could.

"So how long you here for, Conner?" Tim asked as he moved his food around on his cafeteria tray.

"All week," Conner said. "Even got a host to keep me, some chick that runs a flower shop," he added, rolling his eyes at the absolute girlishness of that.

//Not the Bat!// Tim realized that there was one woman, connected enough, to have somehow rigged this, and if she was the 'host', boy he owed her big time! "That's cool. Wonder if I know her?"

"Dunno, but I will say she's kinda hot," Conner said, grinning again.

//Always the girls,// passed through Tim's head before he actually tried eating the processed cardboard that passed as lunch.

* * *

"So you know how to get back to where you're supposed to be staying?" Tim asked as the school let out. "Because... you could come home with me, give your host a call so she doesn't worry."

"Suits me." Conner fished his phone out of his pants… with a little difficulty because those jeans were absolutely sprayed on. Once he had it out and open, Tim got to see a little unauthorized TTK, as his buddy texted with it instead of actually tapping out the letters. No one was near enough to notice, so Tim figured it was okay. After all … it was part of who Conner really was at such a core level that Tim couldn't imagine him without it.

Tim knew he didn't have to head out for patrol for another few hours, so this would give him time to show his dad that he could be normal and have friends over to play the often-neglected video games. "Dad might be working from home today; he does that some Mondays to get away from the office," he warned Conner.

"'S'cool." His phone blipped, and he laughed. "Stricter than Ma… said for me to be home by seven for dinner."

"City's a little more hectic than Smallville, I'd bet, once the sun goes down," Tim offered as he led the way.

"Yeah, guess she wouldn't know I'm tougher than I look."

//Wouldn't bet on that,// Tim thought to himself, really curious how this had all gotten set up. "Let's keep it that way, huh?"

"Promised Lois when she set this up I'd be on my best behavior," Conner told him.

//Lois…// "So how did this all come about?" Tim finally asked once they were clear of anyone who might be paying attention.

"Lois called, said she wanted to do a cross-cultural slice of America piece for the Planet. She said I was the only kid she knew living in Hicksville, and did I have friends in any city?" Conner shrugged. "Wasn't about to go near Bart… that would have been trouble straight up. And Cassie goes to the girls' school, like Cissie. Lois vetoed anywhere near New Orleans…" Conner rolled his eyes at that.

Tim tried hard to keep it from showing that he was disappointed to be at the end of the list.

"And anyway," Conner was continuing, "I figured it would be cool for you to do the other half of it, and when I told her, she was cool with it."

Tim's heart hammered in his chest as two things came clear. One was that he was expected to go stay with Conner in Smallville. And the other… "Whoa, you told Lois who I was?!"

Conner snorted. "Dude, she knew. Was going to play it off that I'd met you once on a signing tour, but she was all 'oh, the newest bird'."

Tim wasn't certain how he felt about that; he thought he'd rank it right up there with Deathstroke knowing who the heck he was. "Okay, so did anyone talk to my dad about the other half of this?"

"Guess we'll find out when we see him, right?" Conner asked ingeniously.

* * *

Dad turned out to not be home, and neither was Dana, but a note left on the fridge had all the permission slips, tickets, and everything Tim would need the following week. He stared at them, then at Conner, and shook his head. 

"Dana's note says she thinks this will be an important 'learning' exercise, and for me to please cooperate with Ms. Lane to the best of my ability," Tim said, still surprised by it all.

"Cool." Conner grinned. "Not a whole lot to do other than school and chores out there, but… I'm hoping you'll enjoy it anyway." For the first time that whole day, Tim saw a hint of insecurity in his best friend.

"Hey, it's time with you… just gotta make sure me being gone won't make a hole in things," Tim reassured quickly.

Conner flashed a relieved smile at that. "Yeah, I'm sure you handle most of the real trouble."

"You bet I do," Tim told him. "Come on… let's got check out the last game Dana bought for me."

"Sure…" Conner followed him to his room, looking all around it and seeing that Tim… didn't really live here. Yeah, maybe a little boy named Timmy had once lived here, but those vestiges were the only things marking it as personal, and not just a careful collage of 'teenage boy' to keep up appearances. Tim could see it all over his friend's face. "Dude, is there anyone in the world who actually gets to see the real you?" Conner blurted out before he could censor himself.

Tim looked around the room, then back at his best friend. "No one really wants to, or it wouldn't have held up this long."

Conner moved a little closer, making Tim have to look up to meet his eyes, trying to read what was there. 

"I want to know you, the real you… not just Robin, not the guy at your school… all of you."

Tim swallowed hard; could he even strip off all of his masks to give that? Could he really be pushing for his best friend to notice him instead of the girls unless he did?

"We'll see how that goes," Tim managed to say around a dry throat. "Okay?"

"Yeah… okay." Conner flopped on the bed, grabbing a controller. "So stick a game in, and let me kick your butt."

Tim complied happily; it pulled the focus away from him, away from dangerous waters, quite nicely.

He'd figure out the answers over the next week, and have all of the week in Smallville to make it all work out the best way possible… whatever way that was.


End file.
